Interculturalism and Hippies
Interest in cultures outside the home culture had been a feature of the ruling classes during the imperial age, but awareness of the world as a whole was imparted to other classes and greatly expanded during and after the Second World War. The degree of interest deepened, also, with tourists' hedonistic eye being added to with intellectual curiousity, fads, fandom and finally even converts. Beatniks and other travellers, returning with garb from faraway lands, led the movement to adopt new fashions by example. Hippies would even attempt to incorporate the lifestyles of the cultures they admired into their own. These sincerest forms of flattery are a far cry from the blackface, racial stereotyping and caricature that exemplifies the worst aspect of appropriation. As with all appropriation, though, the specter of inequality in all aspects of society remains. Against a backdrop of terrible inequity, all actions can be accused of being not part of the solution, if one agrees that there is a solution. While hippies as a whole were hedonistic, the vast majority were at the very least politically aware, and many politically active. Wearing the clothes and the jewelery of the developing world, hippies were trying to break away from the culture of the rich, powerful, staid, corrupt and bland and adopt the color and life of the disenfranchised. In the case of hippie fashions, there was a combination of the search for the alternative and non-mainstream, and a newfound love of culture and art from outside the home culture. Music fusion (WP) is a newer example of this art. Mainstream culture continues the trend of appropriation, albeit without the devotion to the culture behind the images, and for something to sell. The question of cultural appropriation is no problem to those who embrace the hippie aesthetic; in love with all culture, they can look at the bad or the good and never have to feel awkward. Hippies celebrated all cultures worldwide. Also their own history, looking to ancient Celtic and Gaelic and Scandinavian cultures for their wealth of myths and artistic styling. * Art Nouveau was most prevalent among mainstream artists during 1890–1910, but it enjoyed a distinct resurgence in the hippy era of the 1960s and 1970s. The hippy movement's use of Art Nouveau design was often fairly conventional, although the subject matter was not always so. * Paisley became particularly popular during the Summer of Love (WP), heavily identified with psychedelic (WP) style and the interest in Indian spirituality and culture brought about by the pilgrimage of The Beatles (WP) to India in 1968 * Hippies picked up the American Indian design for garments. Rawhide fringe on mocassins (WP), short jackets, long coats... eventually, garments that were not even of American Indian design * Interculturalism (WP) is often evident in the Rainbow Tribes' adoption of tipi (WP) tents, and the beliefs, traditions, and prophecies of Indian tribes, the use of the word 'Babylon' in the same frame of reference as Rastafarianism, etc. * The original "Beat Generation" writers met in New York. Later, the central figures (with the exception of Burroughs) ended up together in San Francisco in the mid-1950s where they met and became friends with figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the Hippy counterculture , Elves, Orcs and humans; the inhabitants of Middle Earth, then of D&D and its imitators, and then of the Warhammer Fantasy universe whose direct result was the first breakthrough Real Time Strategy game, Warcraft]] :Hippie cuisine (List of Indian pickles) * In the USA the cuisine of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa rose in popularity concurrent with, if not moved significantly and specifically, by the larger hippie culture. Vegetarianism was almost unheard of before the 1960s. "Health food", organic produce, labelling requirements on food packaging, etc etc, all originated or were expanded during the 60s and 70s * Gaming: Although JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit book was published way back in 1937, and the Lord of the Rings in 1949, their popularity spiked during the 1960s. Middle Earth's popularity, in particular, and resulting rise in popularity of Fantasy literature and Fantasy art in general, led inexorably to the creation of the Dungeons and Dragons gaming system, without which there would have been little evidence of profitability for investors to risk funding the massive and influential gaming industry of today. The rest What is known as the Left in politics today, and what is therefore seen as drifting to the right, is better understood as the influence or outright creation of Hippie Movement or ex-Hippies, and the drift away from it, as just the reaction against the movement, and increase of the population that has only had indirect influence from the movement. Interview with Eric Clapton Disraeli Gears Live by Cream, track 03, "Interview Of Eric Clapton" : :''...the jacket comes from Tunisia......the beads come from Eastern shops..." et Listen to people talking about something they liked about a brown peoples' culture, and sense them checking themselves; is this racist? This question is no problem to those who embrace the hippie aesthetic; in love with all culture, they can look at the bad or the good and never have to feel awkward. Hippies celebrated all other cultures to a fault; and mostly not even to a fault, looking to ancient Celtic and Gaelic and Scandinavian cultures too for their wealth of myths and artistic styling. Category:Cultural appropriation Category:Cultural interaction Category:Cultural spheres of influence Category:Hippie culture Category:Hippie cultural influence Category:Lists Category:Interculturalism